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Big East Basketball: 2019-20 preseason power rankings

By Lukas Harkins

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 16: The Villanova Wildcats celebrate the 74-72 win over the Seton Hall Pirates during the Big East Championship Game to claim the Big East title at Madison Square Garden on March 16, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 16: The Villanova Wildcats celebrate the 74-72 win over the Seton Hall Pirates during the Big East Championship Game to claim the Big East title at Madison Square Garden on March 16, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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WICHITA, KS – MARCH 15: Cale and Powell of the Pirates. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
WICHITA, KS – MARCH 15: Cale and Powell of the Pirates. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

2. Seton Hall Pirates

Seton Hall was arguably the conference’s most pleasant surprise last season. Despite widely being projected as a bottom-tier team in the league in the preseason, the Pirates put together a strong 20-14 (9-9 BE) record and reached the NCAA Tournament. This campaign was arguably Kevin Willard’s best since taking over as the head coach and there are high expectations facing his team for 2019-20. This is due to the fact that Seton Hall returns 84.9% of its minutes from last season.

Senior guard Myles Powell is clearly at the forefront of that returning group. Powell is arguably a top-5 player in all of college basketball and is fresh off an electric season in which he averaged 23.1 points per game. He is simply a sensational scorer at all three levels with the ability to single-handedly win games for the Pirates. Additionally, the program is also bringing back Myles Cale, Quincy McKnight, and Sandro Mamukelashvili as full-time starters from last season.

There are concerns regarding how much Seton Hall can internally improve from last season but it is at least reasonable to predict them as a top-25 team. The Pirates are experienced and boast one of the best players in the country. The “X-Factor” for the team is likely to be sophomore Ike Obiagu, an incoming transfer that could play a major role in the frontcourt. The 7-footer is an excellent shot-blocker and that was evident during his freshman campaign with Florida State in 2017-28.

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